Howe proud of Newcastle's tenacious European return

MILAN — Eddie Howe was proud of Newcastle United's dogged return to Champions League soccer after two decades away, holding seven-time European king AC Milan to a goalless draw in Tuesday's opening Group F match.

Howe was the happier of the two managers with taking a point from the clash at the San Siro as his team was mostly on the back foot against last season's losing semifinalist.

Newcastle did little in its first fixture in Europe's top club competition since 2003, the Saudi Arabia-backed club barely creating a chance and lucky to escape with a draw on the balance of play.

Milan should have won after wasting a string of chances, particularly in the first half, and dominating the play on Sandro Tonali's return to his old stomping ground after being sold to Newcastle in July.

"Definitely pride in the result and the performance and the mentality shown," Howe told reporters.

"Within the squad the result wasn't underestimated. Also they are very honest players that acknowledge the fact that we can perform better.

"I think we'll get better and better as time goes on. Hopefully can grow into the tournament."

Stefano Pioli's Milan was pushed to second of a tough group when Paris Saint-Germain got its Champions League campaign off to a winning start on Tuesday as a Kylian Mbappe penalty set it up for a 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes.

Tonali's father was at the San Siro and saw much more soccer played by the host than by his son, back in the Newcastle starting lineup after missing international duty and the weekend's 1-0 win over Brentford with injury.

Before kickoff and during the match the Italy midfielder was loudly cheered by supporters who don't resent his mega-money move to England.

But the home fans, who watched their team thumped 5-1 by local rival Inter Milan on Saturday, were left frustrated by their side's poor finishing and Newcastle's, at times, desperate defending which left the match goalless.

"You have to win when you play so much better than such a good team. Unfortunately we weren't able to capitalize on the situations we created," said Pioli.

"It's a shame that we didn't win the first match because it's going to be a difficult group. We're not happy with the result... We were lacking the most important quality of all."

Wasteful Milan

First, Tommaso Pobega had a well-struck drive pushed away by Nick Pope in the 13th minute and moments later the Newcastle goalkeeper got his body in the way of Samu Chuckwueze's header.

Barely a minute had passed from those two chances when Olivier Giroud then nearly poked home after bustling to get in front of Pope, and unmarked Theo Hernandez had his head in his hands when he failed to score with his free header from Rade Krunic's corner.

With less than 20 minutes gone Milan fans were wondering how their team wasn't leading by at least one goal, and just after the half-hour mark Giroud wasted another golden opportunity when he misdirected his flicked finish from Hernandez's low cross past the near post.

Cries of frustration came pouring down the San Siro stands and supporters could barely believe their eyes when the disappointing Rafael Leao surged into the area and beat two defenders only to attempt a backheel instead of shooting and fall over his own feet.

Leao wasted another gilt-edged opportunity in the 74th minute when he flung his head at substitute Alessandro Florenzi's brilliant cross and sent the ball flying inches over the bar.

And after Newcastle's defense put their bodies on the line to block a series of shots it was almost the away side who snatched the points at the death with its only shot on target.

Home fans had their hearts in their mouths when Marco Sportiello, introduced in the 81st minute for the injured Mike Maignan, tipped away Sean Longstaff's effort from the edge of the penalty area.

Sportiello then had to stretch to push away a dangerous corner just before referee Jose Maria Sanchez brought an eventful stalemate to a close.

AFP